Package



y 11, 1939- 1H. T. DAHLGREN 2,165,539

PACKAGE Filed May26, 1937 I N V ENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

HAROLD T DAHLGREN Patented ll, 1 939 slash PACKAGE Harold T. Dahlgren,Chicago, 111., assig'nor to Teletype Corporation 'tion oi DelawareChicago, 11]., a corpora- Application May '26, 1937, Serial No. 144,881

2 Claims.

This invention relates -to article handling, and particularly to thepacking. Storing, and shipping of articles.

An object of the invention is'to supportand retain articles fixedly andout of contact with each other by such means as will aiiord readyremoval of the article for use.

Another object of the invention is to provide.

containers affording easy access to the articles therein contained.

- The invention features the use of pressure sensitive adhesive materialapplied as a coating to the surface-by which articles are to besupported, I

whereby the articles maybe readily applied and removed.

The handling of small or delicate articles during manufacture, storage,and shipment is sometimes a source of considerable annoyance and ex-'pense, even to the point of actual loss of processed material. Smallhelical wire springs afford an outstanding example of such an article.They roll readily upon the slightest tiltingof the surface by which theyare supported and become interentangled. In the handling of large'numbers of these springs, unlessthey arekept out of.

contact with each other, they may form a tangled mass, the untangling ofwhich may be more costly'than the value of the entangled springs.Attempted untangling of the springs mayresult in such injury to. many ofthem as will render them unfit for the use for which they are intended.Y

According to the present invention, the tendency ofsmall articles toroll or engage each other is eliminated by providing a sheet coated'withpressure sensitive adhesive material upon which the articles maybearranged. By lightly press ing the articles to the coated surface,they re-'- main for an indefinit period 01 time as arranged, anddo notcome into' contact with each other. They may be removed from the sheetmerely bylifting them therefrom, and none of the adhesive materialadheres tothe articles when they are removed. The articles thus sufierno injury and the adhesive material is not impaired by having been usedfor this purpose; so that the adhesive coating sheet may be used repeatedly. The sheet 'to'which the articles have been applied mayfheinserted into an envelope for stockr'oom storage or mailing.

In accordance with a modified form of the in vention, the adhesivematerial is carried by the inner surface of one wall of the'envelope inwhich. the articles are to be stored or shipped.

'The envelopeis preferably supplied as an unfolded blankso that theadhesive coated surface shall be exposed for easy application of thearticles thereto. After the. desired number'of articles have beenapplied to the gummed surface, the enclosure is effected by folding theseveral portions of the blank and sealing the envelope. The sealing flapmay also carry the pressure sensitive adhesive, which enables openlngofthe envelope, as for inspection of the contents, and

rescaling, without destroying orinjuring flap or envelope.

For a complete understanding of the invention, and of the ma'nneriinwhich it may be practiced, referenc'e= may be had to the followingdescription, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, inwhich:

Fig. I is a perspective view partly broken away showing an envelopecontaining a gummed sheet having articles applied thereto;

, Fig. 2 is a perspective view partly broken away. showing an envelopehaving the inner surface of one wall thereof gummed to receive articles;

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the blank from which the envelope of Fig.2 is formed; and

Fig.4 is a plan view showing an envelope such as that shown in Fig. 1having pressure sensitive adhesive material on the sealing flap.

Referring nowto the drawing, inwhich like reference characters indicatecorresponding parts throughout the several-views, and" particularly toFig. 1, reference numeral N indicates a sheet which is intended tosupport articles. may be of paper or cardboard, and maybe of any desiredthickness. It may be made available as a previously prepared sheet ofpredetermined length, or the sheet material maybe supplied in the formof a roll, from which strips of the desired length may be cut as-needed;Sheet H has a surface coating 52 of pressure sensitive adhesivematerial.

The adhesive materialwith which sheet ii is coated: may be any of thewell-known ad- Sheet I I hesivesthat are energized by pressure alone,require no solvent to render them efiective, remain adhesiveindefinitely, acquire no permanent set,

deposit upon articles a minimum of adhesive upon removal of the articlesfrom the adhesive surfaced sheet surface, and may be reused. In thepreferred embodiment of the invention, the adhesi've coating i2 is of arubber base composition such as that employed on paper used in paintingoperations as masks to protect portions of a surface from theapplication of paint orlacquer thereto.

The material of which sheet H is made my 5e limit, bond orparchmentizedpaper, or may be cardboard, but the sheet material mostreadily formation of pads or rolls of the gummed paper,

foreign matter in the form of fibers or lint shall not cling to thegummed surface uponthe separation of the two surfaces.

As shown in Fig. 1, sheet ii, if of flexible ma.- terial, such as paper,has the ends turned back upon'themselves as at l3, bringing gummedsurface into engagement with gummed surface, which cling together withfar greater tenacity than does the gummed surface toany ung'ummedsurface. The reversely bent portions i3 impart transverse rigidity tosheet l I, eliminate exposed gummed surfaces at the ends which mighttend to engage and cling to a container and make re--- moval diflicult,and afford surfaces by which the sheet may be grasped during handling,thus avoiding touching the adhesive, which, however; is notobjectionable, as it leaves no trace of deposit upon hands or surfaceswhich it touches.

Sheet II with adhesive film l2 and reversely folded portions I3 is readyto receive the articles it is intended to support, which may be anysmall elements such as springs It. These are applied by pressing themlightly against the adhesive coating. The springs are thus held' fixedlyin place and cannot become entangled. It has been found convenient toarrange the springs It on sheet I l in regular rows, as the counting ofthem for shipping, receiving, or inventory purposes is therebyfacilitated. The arranging of the articles on the gummed surface may berendered easy, and the counting of stored articles, as for inventorypurposes may be simplified by providing on the adhesive coated surfacerows of dots or other marks spaced apart such distances that one of thearticles may be placed over each of the marks. A brief glance to notethe number of visible marks is all that would be involved ininventorying the articles on a sheet. There remains only the operationof inserting filled sheet H into envelope l5, whereupon sealing flap itmay be closed to effect complete protectionof springs I4 from dust orcorrosion.

When it is desired to use springs ifi, sheet ii may be withdrawn fromenvelope i5 and springs l4 may be removed from adhesive coating i2merely by lifting them therefrom. Since the rubber base adhesive doesnotacquire a permanent set, articles held therein are easily liftedfree, and the lifted article carries with it no deposit of adhesiverequiring removal.

'In Figs. 2 and 3 is shown a modified arrangement for holding smallarticles, in which one wall of a container carries thecoating ofpressure sensitive adhesive. Referring particularly to Fig. 3, whereinthere is shown the blank from which a container in the formof anenvelope may be formed, numerals 2i and '22 indicate the walls of anenvelope between which a crease is to be formed as along dash line 24.Wall 22 has integral therewith side fiaps 23 and and closing or sealingflap 25, and the formation of creases along dash lines 26 and 2'!establishes the flaps and brings them generally into envelope completingand closing condition.

Wall 22 is coated, as at 28, with pressure sensi- 1 arouses coated withadhesive, which, may or may not be the same adhesive applied to wall 22,depending uponconvenience and the circumstances under whichthe envelopeis to be used. Thus, for example, if it is desired that the envelope,once having been closed and sealed, shall afford permanent-evidence ofany tampering therewith, flaps 23 and/or flap is may be coated withmoisture sensitive adhesive, such as is used in well-known mailingenvelopes. Moisture sensitive adhesive acquires. a set upon drying, andopening of the flap or flaps without the use -of moisture results inpermanent mutilation of the flap or envelope or both. If on the contraryeasy access-to the contents of a scalable envelope is desirable, as forinventory purposes or for postal inspection, such access can be afiordedby coating flaps 23 and/or flap 25 with the same adhesive as thatapplied to wall 22. The manufacture of the blank is simplifled-by thisprocedure, in that all of the adhesive coating can be applied in a.single operation; Any of the'flaps that are coated with the pressuresensitive adhesive may be opened and rescaled repeatedly withoutdestroying the adhesive or materially diminishing its adhesivequalities, and without mutilatin'g flap or envelope. The employment ofreusable pressure sensitive adhesive on any of the flaps renders itdesirable to fabricate the envelope blank of paper which does not havefree surface fibers, in order that the envelope shall not becomemutilatednor the adhesive surface of the flap acquire a scale of mattedpaper fibers due to repeated unsealing and rescaling.

The articles to be stored or shipped, such as springs M, are mostconveniently applied to the adhesive coated surface 28 when the blank isin the unfolded, flat condition shown in Fig. 3.

1 depending upon the of adhesive used on the flap, whereby flap 25 iscaused to adhere to the exterior of the completed envelope, which isshown in Fig. .2.

In Fig. 4 is shown a portion of envelope .3! with which envelope i5shown Fig. i may be identical but which may be considered asrepresenting generally any well-known envelope in which an object is tobe enclosed by the sealing of a flap, such as for mailing. Envelopes ofthis type usually have moisture sensitive, non-reusable adhee sive onthe sealingflap. It is proposed, in accordance with the embodiment-ofthe invention shown in Fig. 4, to employ a coating 32 of pressuresensitive adhesive, such as the rubber base adhesive materialhereinbefore described, upon the sealing flap 33. A portion of theenvelope 3l has been broken away, as along line 3%, to show that theenvelope diflers from that shown in Figs. 2 and 3,

in that the inner surfaces of its walls do not carry adhesive,

As in the case of theenvelope shownin Figs. 2 and 3, it is desirablethat envelope 3! be fabricated of material having surfacecharacteristics such that the flap-may be sealed and resealed withoutappreciable diminution of. adhesion. f Y Envelope 3l may find utility inthe reception and storage of unlimited varieties of objects or 1articles such as files of papers or record cards for filing purposes. Itis the general practice of vendors of tickets 'for such things assporting events, concerts, and. theatrical performances, and of railwaytickets, to deliver the tickets to the purchaser in an envelope. .Theuse of envelope 3! for such purposes affords protection, by sealingagainst loss of cards or tickets from the envelope while enabling easyreference to the contents as frequently as may be required or desired.The envelope may also find utility in the transportation of postalmatter; For example, certain classes of objects maybe transportedthroughthe mails at low rates, provided that access to the contents ofthe mailing container can be readily gained for inspection purposes.Envelope 3| with resealable flap 33 would protect the contents fromaccidental escapement and loss, and would make postal inspection easywithout subjecting the envelope to mutilation. r

The above enumeration of convenient uses for the envelope shown in Fig.4 is'intended to be illustrative but not exhaustive, as there are manycircumstances under which an envelope of this type may have conspicuousutility. It will be understood that the envelopes shown in the drawingneed not, within the scope of thisinvention,.be of opaque material. Theymaybe .of transparent paperor cellulosic materlial, the

latter of which is well adapted to receive a m of pressure sensitiveadhesive material, and is com}- mercially avail-able thus prepared.Envelopes of transparent material may receive anarticle carry-.

ing sheet, as in Fig. 1, or may have the inside surface of a wallthereof coated with pressure sensitiveadhe'sive material, according tothe disclosure of Figs. 2 and 3. 'The articles applied to the adhesivewould thus be visible through the wall of the envelope for display orinspection purposes.

Although specific embodiments of the invention.

and metallic article's adhesively held by said coating free of eachother and capable of being removed without adherence of, any appreciablequantity of said coating thereto;

2. A package for small metallicarticles including a sheet having oneside coated with a rubber base adhesive composition which remains tackyindefinitely and which acquires no permanent'set, and metallic articlesadhesively held by said coatbeing removed without destroying theadhesive properties of said coating.

ing in mutually spaced relation and capable of morn 'r. mmoam'v. 35

